Hard to shift into 1st and sometimes all

I have a 99 Tacoma 5 speed and it’s hard to shift into first and sometimes all of the gears but when turned off it shifts perfect. I replaced master cylinder bled lines and refilled. and slave looks good
But only improved other gears but not first haven’t drove to much so idk if it fixed other gear problems... pease help looked at other threads but couldnt find my exact problem

 

Sounds like mine.

 

Shifter seat is probably deteriorated like so:

Head to your local dealer and grab a new one. $15 or so.

 

You could try new shifter bushings as it came up recently again and reminded me how pulverized they get and it's cheap but I have learned to always replace master and slave together.

Sometimes it helps to jack up the drivers side too when bleeding to get every bit of air you can out.

My test used to involve shimming the arm, if it got better it wasn't extending enough, either from air or an internal leak.

 

What fluid do you have in there. Ive heard redline synthetic helps since it's gl4 instead of gl5. I want to try it but hate to dump the brand new Mobil 1 that's in the now

 

How old is your gear oil?

 

I bought the truck just recently so I don’t know how old it is but I just got back from driving it around and it feels like the clutch doesn’t engage for first when downshifting and shifting into first from neutral while rolling. It feels like I am floating into first needing to rev up into 2200 to pop it in so I have no idea what that could mean all other gears work and shift great so far

 

And I also looked inside the shifter seat and to my surprize it was close to perfect and after market I’m sure

 

Bleed it some more but i would bet the slave is toast.

 

could be something simple, but I would def replace the gear oil. Also, make sure the clutch pedal is properly adjusted. I would check these out before diving into cylinder replacement.

 

I already replaced the slave and I think the master is good going to try new gear oil to see if that helps

 

Can you shift into it with the truck off?

 

?

Kind of why it works best to do them together. Then you KNOW what's good.

 

Ok I replaced the master and replaced the gear oil and it seems to be fine just I need to be going really slow to shift into first. On the way to get the parts the clutch didn’t go back all the way and did the thing where I can’t shift into any of the gears... so only time will tell if it is fixed now I will let u guys know thanks a lot

 

I usually have to match rev to shift into first if I'm moving, it's easier on the synchros anyways.

 

I'd check the bracket that holds the clutch pedal assembly in place for any damage. I had one that was cracked on a 95, and it basically had enough flex that when depressing the pedal it didn't fully engage the clutch so getting it into gear was really difficult while moving unless i hit the right rpm. I tried all kinds of fixes before I discovered it, and a new bracket solved my problem. Your symptoms sound exactly the same FWIW.

 

I am having this issue, I can shift into all gears very smoothly when truck is off, when the truck is on... Not so much so. Sorry to bump an old thread but I felt like this a relevant symptom.

 

I have a 2003 v6 and I have this problem more in the winter when my truck is cold. If I'm rolling at a couple miles per hour I have to blip the throttle to match the revs and get it into first

 

Common problem, before I switched to redline in the transmission I couldn't get it to go into 1st at all unless at a dead stop.

 

along with what others have said, redline fixed my issue. mine is a double cab 5 speed, with dual cases and it was to the point i hated driving the thing and i always used mobil 1 synthetic 75-90 oil, but after reline mt-85 i am more than satisfied with it